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Studios Construction Update

Despite the busy summer season in full swing the Walt Disney Studios Park is seing several more or less obvious and more or less construction projects going on … time for a wrap up …

The facade of Studio 1 facing toward the Frontlot and seen already by guests approaching the park is still fully covered by scaffolding and a scrim with a printed on replica of the facade. However, geusts shouldn’t expect this to change since – as already reported – there is no actual work going on there right now, but the scaffolding has been retained to allow for easy installation of an oversized advertising poster should Walt Disney Pictures be willing to pay for such step once again. In the meantime the last work on the Walt Disney Studios Store has been finished and the stretch limousine that is used as backdrop for a Meet’n'Greet with various Disney characters has been moved back from in front of Studio 1 to its original place in front of the Studio Store in the past week. However, thereby access to one of the newly added doors have been partially been obstructed again. The real surprising construction work can be found further inside the park … and photos can be found right after this break

And now, we are not talking about Toy Story Playland – while the area behind The Art of Disney Animation, between the Tram Tour Station and the Toon Studios is blocked off, work here is still limited to ground work, so no visible construction progress yet to report. However, to get close to the non-descript dark blue construction walls fencing this site off guests have to pass the first surprising construction project in the Studios: the fake shope window next to the pin shop in the facades on the right side of the Hollywood Boulevard (when walking toward the Tram Tour station). The window and a small area in front of it have been closed off and the shop window is being transformed into a small shop similar to the pin shop next door. Late last week workers were already busy repainting the interior. Still, there is no official announcement yet, what kind of shop might be placed there. Various rumors mention a potential ice cream sales point though.

The next major construction project is the rehab of the the full facade of the Disney Channel building on all sides seen from inside the park, which are fully covered by scaffolding and a scrim with a printed on replica of the facade. However, there is a surprising “add on” to this project. The construction fence on the front corner of the building (in front of the huge Hidden Mickey mural) has extended further into the walkway and a small round structure is under construction in front of the Disney Channel building. Late last week already the roof segment seemed to be under construction. Once again there is no official word what is under construction in this place. However, the structure 8as far as can be seen) seems similar to the small permanent merchandise kiosk that was placed in the Toon Studios in front of Animagique. As a merchandise cart was regulalry placed during the past year in this area of the Production Courtyard a permanent merchandise locations would make sense.

And before we forget it: the former Backlot Express Restaurant is certainly still under construction being transformed into a High School Musical & Pirates of the Caribbean themed restaurant. For more information on the changes of the interior of the restaurant check our report from earlier this week. However, there is one further change to report since then: the next addition to the new name of the restaurant painted on the facade above its main entrance. It now reads “Disney Blockbuster” instead of just “Blockbuster” as during the past weekend. Also reports are coming in that the future Pirates of the Caribbean themed area has now been closed off, which would indicate that the installation of the overlay may already be underway.